A FORMER policeman has been cleared of murdering an alleged drug smuggler more than a decade ago.

 

Doug Fleming, 50, walked out of the High Court in Glasgow after a jury found the charge against him of killing father-of-two Martin Toner not proven.

The businessman's acquittal came nearly six years after he was also cleared of a massive conspiracy to import cocaine in to Scotland.

Mr Toner, 34, had been due to stand trial on the same charges with Mr Fleming when his remains were found under a hedge in Langbank, Renfrewshire two weeks after his disappearance.

Mr Fleming was alleged to have stabbed Mr Toner 12 times on the body and then and cut his throat at the Gleddoch Estate on June 29, 2004.

Mr Fleming, who was staying at the estate coach house at the time, was also alleged to have dumped Mr Toner's body in a field in Langbank.

He has always denied any involvement and claimed the last time he saw Mr Toner he was walking towards Langbank railway station.

As the verdict was announced Mr Toner's brother James shouted to the jury: "You made a mistake a big mistake. He's a murderer. He murdered him."

And his widow Michelle sobbed and said to the jurors: "You are wrong.."

After Mr Fleming was acquitted of charges of murder and attempting to defeat the ends of justice he turned to the jury and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, you did not make a mistake. You can be assured of that." Suspicion fell on Mr Fleming, who served as a constable with Central Scotland Police from 1985 to 1988, when he admitted to police he gave Mr Toner a lift to Langbank the day he went missing.

Mr Fleming, who was at the time company director of Paisley-based Delta Construction said he had met Mr Toner in the Fit for Life Gym in Pollokshields, Glasgow, around 2.30pm on June 29, 2004.

One of the gym's directors, John "Ian" McDonald, was also accused of the murder of Mr Toner, but walked free halfway through the trial after the Crown withdrew the charge.

Mr Fleming said he offered Mr Toner a lift to Langbank. He insisted that he dropped Mr Toner close to the railway station and that was the last he saw him.

Leisure manager Ross Agnew, 38, whose sister is in a relationship with Mr Fleming, alleged that he saw him with a shirt "saturated" in blood on the day Mr Toner was murdered.

The High Court heard that he only made the allegation 10 years after Mr Toner's death when police questioned him in Spain.

Mr Agnew said that he drove Mr Fleming to Greenock where he bought him a new shirt and tie to replace the blood soaked ones.

Mr Fleming countered that Mr Agnew was a "feckless wastrel" who would "put the blame on anyone".

James Toner, the victim's brother, said the family was "gutted" with the result.

He added: "Martin would not have done that to anybody and left them in a field like that.

"He was not a stereotypical drug dealer who used violence as part of his work.

"Gangster is a word that gets used. When I think 'gangster' I think Al Capone. Martin was not Al Capone."

Martin Toner would have been 45 last week. His brother added: "He was a family man, who was dedicated to his wife and his two kids. "Everything he did, he did to provide for them. He had been with his wife since he was 15. He was a loyal, loyal person."